


The Founding of Beauxbatons

by MOrignal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Beauxbatons, Founding of beauxbatons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 06:11:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6317836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MOrignal/pseuds/MOrignal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a nun and a bishop during the witch hunts in France and how they created the Académie de magie de Beauxbatons.</p><p>This was first written for my norwegian friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Founding of Beauxbatons

Beauxbatons was created around the year 1290 although not everyone agree on the date. One thing is for sure, it's the events that lead to its creation.

 

It was the time where Cathares were hunt for heresia in the south of France. They had a different understanding of Catholicism and that was considered unholy. In their search for evil, french people stumbled upon wizardry and began hunting for witches and wizards. Trials were hold, people were hanged, bastoned, rocked (but very few were burned for some reason that wasn't a thing French did). Everyone was afraid : of not being catholic enough, of not being educated enough to survive a trial, of looking evil, or... of being too magical. Many of the scared ones came to see Albi's Bishop, the Bishop Fulgence. They knew he was a decent man who would do his best to protect them. Some of those who seeked help also knew of his secret : Bishop Fulgence was a wizard, second son of a not-so-wealthy family that could ensure a golden future only to their eldest son. So like many did by then, Fulgence turned to the church, made his path and became Bishop, intending to cast enough "miracles" to become a saint at some point. Except he hadn't see the witch trials coming and quickly had to tone down the "miracles". Instead he began helping his community.

He sent every wizard and witch knocking to his door to a small convent in the Pyrenees. The convent had been built 50 years ago but no one was living there anymore. It had turn out that it was too far from pilgrim's road and soon no priest showed up to held mass for the nuns, so no new nuns came here anymore and the older ones went to other convents. The thing was, few knew that, so Bishop Fulgence figured it would be the best hiding place. Everyone would think it was a holy place and no one would suspect that it protected in fact wizards and witches.

 

Amongst the witches and wizards in the Pyrenees' convent was a Squib. Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation didn't need the protection she could mingle amongst the muggles. But she was here for her niece, Charlotte. The child's parents had died during a magical experiment and her grandparents had died of old age or disease. Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation was the little girl's only relative so Charlotte had been sent to her convent where the nuns had raised the child until then.

At age six, Charlotte made a bucket of water boil when throwing a temper. The same year, strange things started happening to Soeur Henriette, a nun who had always been severe to the little girl. Toads would appear in the buckets of water she got from the well, her voice would sound croaked at mass, broomsticks always fell from her hands... Soon the community accused Charlotte. The little girl was always around when these things happened and everyone knew of her disliking Soeur Henriette. Except it seemed there was no explanation to her pranks and the accusations turned into whispering and signs of the cross.

Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation decided it would be better for everyone if she was to depart with her niece, before the nuns burned her or exorcised her. She asked the Mother Superior for the permission to take Charlotte to another convent where there would be other orphan girls in need of schooling. Of course the Mother was so relieved to see the child go she allowed it without even asking what convent it was. And Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation wouldn't have been able to answer. At that time she hadn't even heard of the convent in the Pyrenees and her plan was to knock at every magical family door in hope someone would agree to take Charlotte in and teach her how to control her magic. She had tried teaching her niece but being a Squib her teaching was only theoretical. Her own parents had been in denial over her absence of magical abilities. They had taught her alonside with her brother, claiming he was doing better only because he was very gifted. Had he not believed that, he might have not tried the experiment that costed him his life...

 

Going from door to door, Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation and Charlotte eventually heard about the safe heaven in the Pyrenees. When they arrived here it was complete chaos. Dozens of families were camping in the two buildings that surrounded the church. One was the workshop and the dormitories and the other one the kitchens and the dining room. Even with the help of spells the place was crowded. Let's add there were cauldrons everywhere, orphans and traumatized or hurt people, frightened muggleborns sent by Bishop Fulgence, everyone wanting to eat at different times and parents teaching their respective children about different things. It was a mess. They were fights, screams, pain, cries, laughter and confusion, lots of confusion.

One night, Soeur Marie was talking with a matron from Luxembourg, Johanne Neuer. Johanne was well-respected by the magical community. She was the mother of ten children and already had three grandchildren. She had resisted the witch hunting and saved all her family and her whole village and managed getting them to the Pyrenees. She had natural authority and always was making sure everyone was all right. The two women were exchanging their views about the chaos of the refugees' camp and what could be done about it. Johanne wanted the refugees to build a third building so they would have more room. Soeur Marie wanted the parents to accept teaching to Charlotte, the orphans and the muggleborns.

It was Soeur Marie who found how to get them both what they wanted. They had to rationalize the lessons and then more adults would have time to build. An adult could teach to twenty children, on one subject and after him an other adult could take his place and teach about an other subject. This way every parent was teaching to every child and would make their living conditions better too. After a few days things fell into place. Soeur Marie de l'Anoonciation was in charge of the schedule. French parents being really proud and sure to know better, she had to make sure everyone was teaching at some point and that the kids would actually learn from it. She had to juggle so they wouldn't be learning about Potions all day long or about the same potion three weeks in a row. She also had to be sure no one would teach a Polyjuice potion to a 6 year old and that even the eldest had something to do (like taking care of the children below 6). Johanne was in charge of the building. Lucie Mathieu, a woman from Belgium, came to Soeur Marie's rescue by adding magic to the paperwork, making it easier. They later wrote together handbooks of witchcraft, with Soeur Marie's theoretical knowledge and Lucie's practical one. Ignacio Loyola Perez, a man from Spain helped Johanne with his knowledge of architecture. He was the one who came up with the idea of carving troglodyte classrooms into the hill on which the church was seated. This way the old buildings and the new ones would be only lodgings, kitchens and dining room.

 

After a year or so, France got tired of witch hunting. Witches and wizards started going back home. Some of them wanted to leave their children at the convent for a few months to make sure things were really back in order before making them come back home. But then, children started wanting to stay wih their friends and their parents agreed and more and more did. And that's how a small covent in the Pyrenees became l'Académie de Magie de Beauxbatons, directed by Soeur Marie de l'Annonciation, Johanne Neuer, Ignacio Loyola Perez and Lucie Mathieu.

**Author's Note:**

> I see Beauxbatons just like this : http://agentqarter.tumblr.com/post/140825618453/beauxb%C3%A2tons-encore and it's that post that made me want to share my headcanons.


End file.
